The present invention is directed to an apparatus for transporting articles, and specifically addresses such apparata which are adaptable for use as a food-carrying tray.
Food service establishments employ food service trays to facilitate the carrying of food items by customers from a point of service to an area in which the food items are consumed. The food trays are collected after the customers have consumed their food; the trays are washed, and then they are returned to the point of service for reuse by other customers.
Following the washing process, the food service trays are generally stacked at the point of service so as to be readily available for subsequent use. One problem common with such use of food service trays is that, in such a stacked orientation, recently washed trays are often not able to dry thoroughly before their re-use. Further, in such environments the trays are often dropped and suffer damage such as cracking, chipping, or the like, especially at corners of the trays. Still further, stacks of food service trays often lean and become unstable because of slipping between adjacent trays in the stack. Still further, food service establishments may purchase trays from different vendors, and jamming between trays within stacks may occur between trays supplied by different vendors.
The present invention is designed to overcome the above shortcomings by providing apparata for transporting articles, such as food service trays, which are amenable to drying in a stacked orientation; are constructed to withstand rough treatment, such as dropping; stack more squarely with reduced slipping between trays in such stacked orientation, and are constructed to reduce jamming between adjacent trays within a stack.